Since 1795, the Van Bergen family has shaped the way the world marks time. For six generations, their foundry in Heiligerlee cast bells and carillons for towers across the world, tuning bronze to fractions of a hertz, satisfying the most exacting commissions with a patience that belongs only to masters. When the last bell left the foundry in 1980, that mastery did not disappear. It waited.

Two and a half centuries of acoustic and metallurgical excellence now find expression in haute horlogerie. Founded by Baron Juchter van Bergen Quast, direct grandson of the dynasty’s final master bell-founder, together with CEO Erik Meijer and master watchmaker Daniel van Ree, Van Bergen 1795 unveils the Heero Collection at Top Marques Monaco, under the High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II.

The first Van Bergen wristwatch ever made is presented to His Serene Highness as a bespoke Piece Unique crafted in his honour; a second Piece Unique is donated to the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, to be auctioned during the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend in aid of her charitable mission.

At the heart of every Heero is the sonnerie au passage, a half-hour striking complication whose gong, the largest ever built into a wristwatch, sings through a sapphire caseback. The Heero Inaugural Edition numbers 230 individually numbered pieces; the Monaco Special Edition offers 50 in titanium and 9 in white gold.

Time, here, has a voice.